REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR THE PARALYMPIC TEAM, WEDNESDAY, 6 OCTOBER, 2004
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR THE PARALYMPIC TEAM, WEDNESDAY, 6 OCTOBER, 2004
Is cúis mhór dom céad míle fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin tráthnóna.
It is a most wonderful experience for any sports fan to be surrounded by great sports men and women. On behalf of everyone who loves sport, everyone who followed with great pride and interest your sporting endeavours in Athens, I am delighted to welcome you to Áras an Uachtaráin this afternoon, to this celebration of your effort and achievements at the second-largest sporting event in the world, the Paralympic Games.
You in this room more than anyone else know that in sport there is never certainty about the outcome, there are no sure-fire winners. And that is a big part of the thrill for the rest of us, the anxiety-ridden spectators. It is also part of the lonely journey each sportsman or woman must travel, part of the wall they have to face and overcome. You, the members of the 41 strong Irish Paralympic Team who competed in Athens, know only too well how cruelly tight the margins are between winning and losing, smiles and tears, how much courage it takes to square up to those margins, to accept the risks, to commit to the ethic of competing, of being tested rigorously and accepting the outcome whatever it is. John Cronin coined it well when he said before the games “I’m gearing up for intense competition with international friends but deadly rivals.” We are very grateful to you for going the distance, making so many sacrifices, to be the very best, to be Ireland’s best. Ian Mahon, we know, had to miss the birth of his son Cathal – comhghairdeachas Ian, and Catherine Walsh had to leave her young baby Alison behind to pursue her Paralympian dream. Honestly, the lengths new parents will go to, to get a few hours sleep and to avoid changing a nappy!
To the medal winners, Derek Malone, David Malone, Conall McNamara and John McCarthy, we congratulate you on your great achievement and celebrate your victory with you for not only are you part of that remarkable elite known as Irish Olympians you are among that even smaller elite - Olympic medallists. Your experiences and achievements and those of your team compatriots will serve to fire-up the imagination of others.
To the Paralympic Council, the Sports Council, coaches, families, partners, administrators, officials, sponsors and supporters, we thank you for everything you did to make it all come together in Athens, the long hours, the training sessions, the willing on, the guidance, the sacrifices you had to make to be there for the team, not to mention the heart-stopping, nail-biting, grey-hair inducing moments, that we all endured during the competitions themselves. I would like in particular to thank one man, Jim McBride, who is now stepping aside as Chef de Mission. Jim’s involvement goes back to Seoul in 1988 and he has made an enormous contribution ever since.
As Athens becomes a memory, some of you are already beginning to focus on Beijing. For the rest of us it is four years away. For you the preparation starts here and now and we wish you well and all the new sportsmen and women who will emerge in the next four years inspired by you and determined to have their Olympic day.
I would like to thank Mary Kelly, our wonderfully talented harpist and the hugely entertaining Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann and the hardworking staff here at the Áras for all they have done to make this occasion enjoyable for everyone.
Comhghairdeachas libh go léir arís. Go raibh maith agaibh.